Foreign bodies
ON the face of it, this looks like a totally pointless car.
I mean, who would want a fourwheel drive Toyota Prius? Perhaps there’s an answer to that one: an Uber driver who is based in the north of England or Scotland where global warming has yet to stop it snowing in winter; an Uber driver or taxi driver who’s lost work due to snow.
Toyota obviously thinks that there’s reason enough because it has built this Prius AWD-i, the first all-wheel drive of its iconic hybrid hatchback.
It’s quite an interesting machine and quite a lot of thought appears to have gone into its design.
Converting a hybrid vehicle like the Prius is easier than doing so on a conventional car because you can fit an electric motor to the previously undriven axle rather than having to build a special transmission and then run a propellor shaft the length of the vehicle and fit a differential unit.
Which is exactly what Toyota has done with this car. Up front you have the front-wheel drive Prius’s 1.8-litre petrol engine and CVT transmission, complete with an electric motor sandwiched between the two.
At the back there’s a new 7bhp electric motor to drive the rear wheels. Doesn’t sound very much but it’s enough to do the job properly in slippery conditions.
The standard Prius uses a lithium ion battery but Toyota has fitted a nickel metal hydride one to the AWD-i. This battery is older tech but has better performance in cold conditions. Which rather backs up my earlier theory about it being just the car for the northern climes Uber driver.
Because the electric motor is compact and doesn’t need a propellor shaft and transfer gearbox, the four-wheel drive Prius isn’t hugely heavier than the 2wd model – about 70kg more.
That’s good news for emissions and fuel economy which are broadly similar to the standard car’s at 85g/km and a WLTP rating of 58.6-64.7mpg.
The rear electric motor always kicks
REAR MIRROR MONSTER:
An Uber-familiar view.
BACKSIDE BEAUTY:
Prius so it ain’t sexy.
PLAYTIME PLEASER:
on the slippery stuff.
NAUGHTY NIGGLES: You lose a bit of economy and luggage space to 4x4.
It’s a Good in when you move away from rest to aid acceleration and provides grip but cuts out once the car has hit 6mph. Unless, however, the car detects that there’s slip, in which case the rear electric motor will power up the rear wheels until 44mph. After that speed the car’s brain assumes that there won’t be any wheelspin, which makes sense.
In practice you can’t feel the rear wheels being driven as you pull away, and of course it’s summer so no snow could be found to test out its performance on slippery going.
It hadn’t rained for ages either, so there wasn’t even any mud to try it on. If the tyres are suitable for winter there’s no reason why the Prius AWD-i won’t tackle a skiddy car park or hill more competently than its 2wd brother.
TASTY TOUCHES: Uses oldfashioned battery because it’s better in cold weather.
FAST OR LAST: If you’re looking for fun or performance then you could be disappointed.
WONGA WONDER: It’s likely to be a business purchase. ZILLIONAIRE Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Land Rover Defender rival will be called the Grenadier.
The 4x4s will have BMW drivetrains and will be built by his firm INEOS at Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, in 2021.
But the Grenadier’s body and chassis will be made in Portugal.
It seems Bridgend will be more of an assembly plant, and Sir Jim’s Grenadier less “British manufactured” than he first promised.